Sushi is one of the go to take out meals in our house. There are tons of cheap and tasty sushi restaurants in Vancouver, so it’s super convenient. However, as I mentioned in my last post (coconut mushroom soup), I have been eating a vegetarian diet for the month of January, often opting for vegan alternatives. As such, our regular sushi choices are not an option at the moment. With some of my favourites in mind (like spicy tuna!), I decided to embark on an adventure of creating some healthy vegan alternatives. I’m really happy with how they turned out, and I hope you like them too.

This is not a post about the technical side of how to make sushi. I’m not an expert and there are people who get way into the dos and don’ts of how to roll or season the rice. I’m armed with some basic knowledge, but mostly I wing it. There are oodles of posts/videos/articles out there on how to make sushi and sushi rice if you are unfamiliar :) This post IS here to give you some tasty vegan filling options when you do want to make sushi!

Rainbow Roll
This roll is very open to your own modifications, feel free to use whichever vegetables you like or have on hand. To make this colourful roll I used: carrot, purple cabbage, Thai basil, cucumber, and red pepper. I chopped them all into matchsticks. Had my avocado been ripe, I would have used it as well. Other greens like romaine lettuce or spinach would also be good.
Miso Sauce:2 tbs Lemon Juice
2 tbs Water
1 tbs Miso Paste
1 tbs Toasted Sesame Oil
½ tsp Grated Ginger (so it’s more like a paste)

Mix/whisk all of the ingredients together well. This makes quite a concentrated sauce; if you don’t want it as strong, add more water.

I used a little bit of sauce inside the rainbow roll, before rolling. Then drizzled on the rolls after. You can also use it as a dipping sauce.

1. Soak cashews in water for a couple hours or overnight.
2. Steam some cauliflower florets until they are softer - but still have some texture. Stop steaming them before they hit your ideal texture, they will soften a little after you take them off the heat. Let them cool.
3. Now that your cashews have soaked, add them to a blender/food processor with all the other ingredients, except the cauliflower. You are trying to make a paste/thick sauce, thus only add a little water as necessary for blending.
4. Once you have prepared the spicy vegan mayo sauce, roughly chop the cooled cauli florets. Mix sauce with the chopped cauliflower. (see photo above for texture)

You'll likely have extra sauce, depending on how many rolls you make. It's yummy, and can be used on other things :)

1. Mix soy sauce, sweetener, and garlic in a bowl. Add the mushroom slices and let marinate for 15 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms and marinade to a pan and cook.
3. Once the mushrooms have cooled, roll with some matchstick cut cucumber.

*You could use any other mushroom, but I really like the 'meaty' texture of the king oyster for this recipe

Thanks for stopping by! If you make any of the rolls, be sure to share with me on social media :)
Have a wonderful week. - Fiona

I set a goal for myself (not a new year's resolution...) that I would eat vegetarian for the month of January. This is an experiment, mostly for curiosity's sake. I don't eat a lot of meat and I've always said it would be easy for me to become vegetarian, so I wanted to see if that was actually true. Aside from a couple hiccups on the first day (which was spent in airports), it has been going well!

While I'm not partaking in a vegan diet, I do enjoy creating healthy vegan recipes and that's how this soup came about. It's ridiculously good. The best mushroom soup I've had. Though, to be honest, most of the mushroom soup I've had was from a can. Unlike the canned variety of my childhood this soup is gluten free and vegan.

1. Chop the 1/2 onion and stir fry it in a pan with the chopped mushrooms, minced garlic, rosemary, and some oil.
2. Once well cooked and soft, add about 3/4 of the pan contents into a blender with the can of coconut milk and the broth cube, blend well. After blending transfer to a pot.
3. Take the leftover 1/4 of mushroom/onion mix and add to the blender with a cup of water. Blend roughly. (If you do not wish to have some texture, omit this step and blend all of the mushroom mix and the water with step 2)
4. Add all blended ingredients and the wild rice into a pot. Test the soup and season with salt and/or pepper as needed.
5.Bring the pot contents to a boil over medium heat. Serve.

Optional:
I topped mine with some sage fried shiitake mushrooms. I combined chopped mushrooms, sage, a little salt, and some oil in a pan. Then stir fried it over med/high heat.

If you want to check out my vegetarian adventures for the rest of January, you can follow me on Instagram or Snapchat (FionaElvaJane or through the image below). If you want to get involved, tag your Instagram pictures with #MeatFreeJan!